The Darkness of a Pure Heart
by Ikiko Sohma
Summary: Kagome finds herself being taken captive by Naraku. What is he planning to do exactly? Kagome must struggle to survive Naraku's cruelty, and her own dark thoughts as Inuyasha rushes to save her. But will he make it? Rated M for language and sexual content.
1. Chapter 1 Damn You Inuyasha

Chapter 1

*Outskirts of Kaede's Village*

"SIT!" Kagome screamed at a startled Inuyasha. The hanyou smashed to the ground with a yelp. He glared furiously up at Kagome.

"What the hell was that for?" He growled.

Kagome stiffly walked over to her backpack which had been carelessly tossed on the ground with all its contents spilled out.

"Just look at what you've done! I had everything organized in here! And you ate all the food!" She furiously started shoving everything back in the bag. "Now we have no food left..."

Inuyasha sat up and stuck his hands in his sleeves. "What's the big deal? There was barely any food left anyways so I finished it off. I don't see what you're so damn angry about"

Kagome took a breath to calm herself. She felt a little guilty for sitting Inuyasha like that, and he was right about there not being enough food for everyone. But she was feeling very moody at the moment and didn't feel much like apologizing.

"Well now I have to go home and get more... Great." She grumbled, although she wasn't exactly against the idea of visiting her family. She flung her bag over her shoulder and stalked off in the direction of the Bone Eater's Well.

"Hey, where the hell do you think you're going?" Inuyasha called after her.

'If he's not going to apologize then I'm certainly not going to...' Kagome could only take so much of Inuyasha's attitude. "Inuyasha you're so stupid! I'm going home!"

And with that, she ran off leaving the confused hanyou behind her.

Kagome couldn't help but tear up a bit. Inuyasha could be so frustrating!

"D...Damn you Inuyasha" As she was running, her vision had become blurred from her tears causing her to trip over a rock. She fell to the ground with a startled yelp. She sat up and gasped in pain; her ankle was sprained. She tried getting up but fell back down with a thud.

"Ouch... Now what do I do?" The thought crossed her mind to call out for Inuyasha but she quickly pushed it aside. She knew he would want an apology for her harsh words, and she wasn't ready to offer them. Miroku and Songo had gone out earlier to see if they could could pick up Naraku's trail, but they were probably back at the village by now.

Naraku had once again vanished without a trace, leaving Inuyasha and the others at a loss at what they should do. Between searching for Naraku, locating the rest of the jewel shards, and constantly arguing amonst themselves; the group had been in bad moods and short tempers lately. Inuyasha especially.

Kagome felt a twinge of guilt at the thought of him. After all, Inuyasha would have a lot less to worry about if she weren't around. It would certainly give him much more time to chase after Kikyo. The guilt Kagome had felt for Inuyasha a moment ago vanished at the thought of the preistess.

Night was falling and Kagome was beginning to wonder what would happen if she had to be out here all night without any food. Her ankle was still in pain, and she tried getting up multiple times but always ended up back on the ground with gasps of pain. She let her head fall to the ground in exhaustion, and looked up at the star covered sky. As much pain as she was in, she was still able to marvel at the beauty of it. One of the reasons she enjoyed the Feudal Era so much was that without all the tall buildings and gasses covering the sky, you could look up and actually see the stars. Kagome couldn't help but feel strangly at peace as she gazed up in wonder at the beautiful night. The pain in her ankle was slowly fading, and her eyes began to close as she contently layed on the soft ground.

She was unaware of the danger that watched her like a hawk from above.

As the moon shone and stars twinkled in the sky, a figure loomed over Kagome watching her sleeping form like a lion watches a baby gazelle. The figure made no move to touch her; he simply stood, gazing down at her as she slept unaware that the man who she and her group were so desperatly searching for was standing over her. She simply slept. He simply watched.

The human girl had fallen asleep somewhere near ten minutes ago, and Naraku had made no attempt to wake her. He had meant to kill her when he had seen her running blindly through the forest, and had nearly lept on her as she lay injured. But something had stopped him. He could not fathom what had possibly kept him from tearing apart this insufferable human girl who was constantly getting in his way and destroying his plans. He knew her death would benefit him greatly, especially if he himself were the one to end her miserable life. She and her irritating companions had already collected most of the jewel shards, and if he were to end her life here and now he would be able to simply take them for himself. And, of course, there was Inuyasha.

A sly smile twisted on Naraku's face as he thought of Inuyasha. The damned hanyou had made a mockery of him too many times. Nothing pleased Naraku more than the thought of making Inuyasha suffer in any possible way imaginable. Inuyasha obviously harbored a soft spot for this little human, and Naraku was going to use that to his advantage. The hanyou was difficult to inflict heavy injuries on due to that damned sword of his, but Naraku knew other ways to hurt Inuyasha. He gazed down at Kagome and a terrible sadistic smile crept onto his face. Oh yes, this revenge would be very very sweet.

...

*Lady Kaede's Village*

"What the hell is taking her so damn long?" Inuyasha was pacing back and forth in Kaede's house, looking very irritated. Songo and Miroku were sitting by the fire to keep warm. The little fox demon Shippo was sitting contently on Songo's lap.

"I'm sure Lady Kagome is perfectly safe. She was simply going home for a bit was she not?" Kaede was calmly sitting on the floor sipping her tea. She understood that Inuyasha's frustration was simply due to the fact that he was worried about Kagome. "You needn't be worried for her, that girl knows how to take care of herself."

Inuyasha spun around to face her. "Who says I'm worried about her? I just don't want her gone too long with those jewel shards"

The others weren't convinced. They all had watched this scene before; Inuyasha only got this aggitated and fidgety when Kagome was gone. It was something they had all learned to get used to, although it was still irritating.

"If you want her back so badly, why don't you go get her?" Suggested Miroku

Songo glanced up from her spot at the fire, "I don't think that's a very good idea. We've all been in foul moods lately, and it will probably do Kagome some good to be gone a while with her family. Besides, she was pretty upset when she left so I don't think she is in a big hurry to come back just yet." She turned a pointed glance at Inuyasha.

"What, are you saying it's my faul she ran off? I didn't do anything, she flipped out at me for no reason at all. Now I have to take the time to go over there and drag her ass back here, whether she wants to come or not. We don't have time to waste on her little hissy fits." Inuyasha stormed out of the hut towards the direction of the Bone Eater's Well. He knew Songo was right about Kagome probably wanting some time to herself but there just wasn't time for that. And it wasn't just that. He wanted to see her and put things right, he didn't want her to be angry with him.

He was running full pace towards the well when something made him stop. Kagome's scent was lingering in the air and Inuyasha could tell that she had been at this spot for a while. He was a bit concerned, Kagome should have gone straight to the well and he couldn't think of anything that would have stopped her. He couldn't smell any demons in the area, and he doubted bandits would be much of a problem.

Then he smelled it. Underneath Kagome's scent was a scent much fouler. A scent Inuyasha could never forget, one that made his scin crawl and blood curdle. The stench of the man who haunted his dreams and consumed his mind. Inuyasha's lips curled back in a snarl and let out a low menacing growl.

"Naraku."


	2. Chapter 2 I Hate Her

Chapter 2

*Naraku's Castle*

Kagome awoke in confusion. This was definitely not where she had fallen asleep; unless the soft grass had magically turned to cold, hard stone when she slept. She sat up and looked around. She was in a dark, empty dungeon-like room with stone walls. There was no light in the room save for a small window in which the moon shone its silver light on one spot of the floor. She felt something cold around her ankle and when she looked down she realized that she was chained to the wall.

'What's going on? Where am I?' Kagome thought as she tugged on the chain that held her. No good. It was too strong to pull out from the wall. Desperately she looked around for her backpack, hoping there was something she could use. Her heart sank as she realized it wasn't there.

'The jewel shards…!' She started to panic, trying to think of what to do. Who was holding her captive? She had a strong feeling, but she prayed that she was wrong.

"I see you've awoken." That cold, familiar voice spoke from the corner of the room. That hated voice. Naraku stepped into the moonlight and looked down at her. To Kagome's surprise, he wasn't in his usual disguise.

"Naraku!" Kagome glared up at him with as much courage as she could muster.

Naraku smiled. "You don't sound pleased to see me Kagome."

Hearing him say her name made her cringe. "Why would I?! You're evil!"

He smirked. She always said the most blatantly obvious things. "Evil am I?" He knelt down to look her in the face. "Tell me Kagome, what makes me evil?"

Kagome glared at him with hatred. "All the terrible things you've done! You cursed Miroku with his wind tunnel. You turned Kohaku against Sango and had him kill their friends and family, and then tried to have them kill each other. You turned Inuyasha and Kikyo against each other, making them believe that they had each been betrayed by the other. You're despicable."

"And what about you? Would you say that you are better than me?" Naraku smiled at her. "Can you honestly say that you wish Inuyasha and Kikyo to be happy together? Do you want them to reconcile, and go back to the way they once were? Would you be happy?"

Kagome was taken aback. "It's not about my happiness; it's about being a good person! I would never keep Inuyasha from Kikyo; it wouldn't be fair to him."

"Even though it would hurt you if he chose her over you?"

"Yes. It would hurt, but all I want is for Inuyasha to happy."

"You're lying." Kagome looked at him, startled. "You don't wish for Inuyasha to be happy. You wish for him to be happy with you. If he chose Kikyo, you would hate him." Naraku had drawn very close, his face only inches from hers. She pulled back.

"I would never hate Inuyasha!"

"Because you love him?" Kagome felt her face flushing. She turned her head away. Naraku smiled an evil smile. "Love can make people do terrible things. Let's see just how pure your love really is. I wonder if you would still feel the same way about him even if he never comes to rescue you."

"Inuyasha will come! He's probably already looking for me!"

"Oh I'm sure he is. But how long will he look? Days? Months? Years? All that time away from you, will give him plenty of opportunity to be with Kikyo. How long do you expect him to continue his search for you when he has her? You and I both know that if he's given the opportunity to be with Kikyo, he will take it." He paused. "But perhaps he will find you. Someday, after years of searching, maybe he will finally find his way to you." Naraku placed his hand on Kagome's face, and gently caressed it. Kagome flinched away but Naraku grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. "I guarantee, if Inuyasha does come for you someday, you will not go with him." He looked deep into her eyes. "By that time, your heart will fully belong to me."

…

*Lady Kaede's Village*

"Are ye sure Inuyasha?" Kaede asked.

"I know Naraku's scent when I smell it. He has her, and I'm going to find her."

"Now just hold on Inuyasha." Miroku said, "I'm just as worried about Kagome as you are, but we don't even know where Naraku is. We've beenlooking for him all this time and we still haven't come any closer to finding him."

"So what are you saying? That we just leave Kagome with that bastard, and forget about her?" Inuyasha glared at him.

"No that's not what I'm saying. But running blindly won't help us find her. We need a plan."

"I don't have time for shitty plans Miroku. I need to find her _now._" Inuyasha felt a sickening dread clutching his heart. He should never have let her go off on her own. He should have gone after her.

"Miroku is right Inuyasha, ye can't just run off and search when ye don't even know which direction to run off in." Kaede said firmly. "I understand that ye are afraid but-"

"I ain't afraid! I'm pissed! Naraku has pulled his last trick. I'm done waiting for him to make a move, I'm done listening to what everyone else thinks I should do, and I'm done sitting here talking about this!" He ran out of the hut, leaving the others staring after him.

'Damn them. They think they know everything.' He knew they were right, but he didn't care. He couldn't just sit there and think of a stupid strategy. He had to act now. Because he _was_ afraid. He was terrified that something would happen to Kagome if they waited too long.

'Don't give up on me Kagome; I'm coming.'

…

*Naraku's Castle*

In the darkness of that room, Kagome had one thing that did not make her afraid. The moon that shone through the small window was enough to give her comfort. She wondered if Inuyasha was worried yet. She prayed that he would find her and rescue her. Naraku's words still rang in her ears.

'He's wrong.' She thought. 'Inuyasha will be here soon. He'll find me.' But a small part of her knew that wasn't true. No one knew where she was. They had spent so long looking for Naraku, and they were no closer to finding him. She hugged her legs to her chest and tried her best not to let out the tears she was desperately trying to hold back. Why hadn't Naraku killed her? He had her jewel shards; what more did he want from her? She looked around the room. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark so she could now see around her. Not that there was much to see. The room was completely empty, with bare walls except for the small window. There was a wooden door on the far end of the room. It looked easy enough to break down, but there was no way Kagome could even get to it without being released from the chain around her ankle. The chain was a mere five feet, confining her to only that much movement from the wall. There was nowhere for her to go. She wondered how long it would take to escape; or if she ever would.

Naraku's words kept repeating in her head; 'I guarantee, if Inuyasha does come for you someday, you will not go with him.' What did he mean by that? Of course she would! Inuyasha would never give up until he found her. Right?

She felt a slight twinge of doubt. Naraku was right about Kikyo. If Inuyasha were to stay with her, he would forget all about Kagome. And Kikyo wasn't likely to remind him. Kagome felt a rush of anger. Kikyo had no right to Inuyasha. She had her chance, he should move on already. Every time Kagome felt like she was getting closer to Inuyasha, Kikyo had to show up and ruin everything. She had even tried to kill Kagome and Inuyasha had gone back to her!

She could feel her pulse rising. Kikyo was always getting into Inuyasha's head, and yet it was Kagome who had always been there for him. She certainly never tried dragging him into hell… And yet Inuyasha still believed that she could be saved. She balled her hands into fists.

"I hate her. She doesn't deserve to be saved. She deserves to stay dead."

Kagome gasped. Why did she say that? She didn't mean it! Right? Of course not… Kagome certainly didn't like Kikyo but she didn't want her dead! So why was it that every time she thought about the priestess she felt so much anger? She had never felt this way before. Or maybe she had… Kagome felt the tears finally come. 'Yes.' She thought, 'I have always felt this way. I just never admitted it to myself.'

She looked up at the moon shining through the window while tears silently rolled down her cheeks.

"I hate her."

Naraku stood outside the door. He listened. And he smiled.


End file.
